Mobile health (mHealth) deployments have grown dramatically in recent years, particularly in emerging markets, where base-of-the pyramid populations often lack access to basic health services, but possess a mobile phone. However, despite the proliferation of mHealth platforms, many remain limited in scale and are poorly integrated into existing healthcare systems. Introducing mobile financial services (MFS) within these platforms may offer a way to drive reduced costs and enhanced efficiency – resulting in more affordable, inclusive healthcare systems.

I think this is interesting.. and as we think about the whole integrated care delivery model, this data and information will play a critical part. Of those practices that Humana will own or be part of in a significant way, I believe we can make this happen. For those docs with small practices, we would need to find the right motivation to have them leverage this info. Do we offer it to them? such as ipads for usage during an office visit? we have to make it simple yet provide the best information so they could provide the best quality of care.

the question begs: is/are applications that make access to health care the domain of the younger generation, or as some would content, are applications an additional level of complication to our senior population. Personal experience from the lens of my parents is that "absent" a vetted and universally adopted application that supports a universal view for all, this may by perceived as the "new best new toy" and fade with time. Our seniors; albeit are digital immigrants, working their way into the development of new technologies clumsily, whereas Gen X/Y find the technology adaptable, available and importantly expendable when the next best thing comes available. What defines consumerization: speed of development and release, or the ability to support end users?

the question begs: is/are applications that make access to health care the domain of the younger generation, or as some would content, are applications an additional level of complication to our senior population. Personal experience from the lens of my parents is that "absent" a vetted and universally adopted application that supports a universal view for all, this may by perceived as the "new best new toy" and fade with time. Our seniors; albeit are digital immigrants, working their way into the development of new technologies clumsily, whereas Gen X/Y find the technology adaptable, available and importantly expendable when the next best thing comes available. What defines consumerization: speed of development and release, or the ability to support end users?

“Nobody has figured out how to make consumers — patients — care about mobile health technologies. “And if we don’t [figure that out], m-health will be another tech bubble”. Dr. Joseph Kvedar, director of the Center for Connected Health.

Surveys have found that half who use mobile fitness trackers to keep tabs on their workouts or diets stop using the programs within six months,” said a recent Los Angeles Times story on smartphones in healthcare. All these wearable and mobile products, touted as “disruptive,” “revolutionary” or “groundbreaking” by so many vendors and Silicon Valley cheerleaders still haven’t proved value to healthcare providers or large number of consumers.

A number of recent studies have identified [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@richmeyer” suffix=””]medical apps that failed to measure up[/inlinetweet]. In 2011, pharma giant Pfizer recalled a rheumatology calculator app after the company found that its swollen-joint measurements—calculated using self-reported data—were off by as much as half. Even most simple pedometer apps don’t count your steps correctly, a 2012 study found. For a 2013 paper, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center tested four skin cancer diagnosis apps—similar to the one Hudak used on her kids—and three of them missed at least 1 in 3 melanomas.

So let’s look at some of the hype…I mean stats around mobile health..

Close to 75 percent of adults do not use a fitness device or app to track their weight, diet, or exercise, according to a survey of 979 US adults conducted by research firm Technology Advice.86 percent of the general population going online for health, half are mobile health users. Two thirds of people doing online searches use social media to seek health information, and one third communicate with doctors. (Manhattan Research)[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@richmeyer” suffix=””]About 20 percent of patients say that mobile is essential[/inlinetweet] for managing their care, the article said. That holds true for 32 percent of people with diabetes, and 39 percent of people with MS, according to the article.More Millennials (56%) than those 66 and older (45%) said they would be motivated by data showing the medication was more effective, or by fewer side effects (55% vs. 43%), while more people 66 and older (49%) than Millennials (43%) would be motivated by the recommendation of a healthcare professional.

Now what does all this mean? Nada. Zilch. Zero. Statistics don’t mean a thing until we understand why consumers are accessing mobile health and where. Is it, for example, after being exposed to a DTC spot? A symptom? A doctor’s recommendation? The truth is that it varies by each disease state, and medication. If you believe that someone is going to a drug.com website because they are bored you need to stop drinking.

What’s a DTC Marketer to do?

1ne: Analyze web analytics to determine percent of traffic from mobile, including platforms.

2wo: Find out, via testing and research, where and why people are accessing your site on mobile.

3hree: Provide the best mobile experience where and why your audience is accessing your site.

4our: Don’t fall into the “app” trap. It’s costly and won’t provide any good to patients unless you test it with your audience and continually have a budget to upgrade/update it.

Mobile devices may cannibalize any desktop-based big screen Internet usage, but, for most companies, not a whole lot. Mostly, they’ll just increase overall usage. And they will enable consumers to interact with their favorite digital brands and services for all of their waking hours instead of just their hours at work.

These “mobile” users, moreover, won’t want to interact with their favorite brands and services ONLY on mobile, or even necessarily MOSTLY on mobile (It depends on the service: Mobile music, for example, is huge, as are some mobile games). They’ll want to interact with them everywhere.

Citing data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the Washington Post breaks it down: While 88% of Americans have a cell phone, [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@richmeyer” suffix=””]only 10% have downloaded health-related mobile apps[/inlinetweet].

For a new generation of patients, could the laptop — or even cellphone — replace the stereotypical shrink’s couch? A crop of new startups wants to take psychotherapy into the 21st century.

About one in five Americans will experience a mental health challenge during their lifetime, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association. But experts say that 60 percent of them will never seek help. The lack of available care, inconvenience and cost are all barriers to access, but so is the fear of prejudice and discrimination from friends, family and even employers.

“Stigma and shame is a huge factor – maybe the most important one,” said Oren Frank, founder of mental health startup Talktala. “People who have been to regular therapy are less ashamed of it, but people who are newcomers are paralyzed by fear.”

Online options enable people to receive therapy on their own turf and terms, without needing to update others on their whereabouts – and they offer the benefit of anonymity.

For example, a study released last month from Case Western Reserve found that while many new moms suffering from postpartum depression wouldn’t seek help because of the stigma or lack of time, they would go online for support if providers were available and they could communicate anonymously.

It’s still a new and relatively small field — therapists may worry about liability issues or misdiagnoses, patients may harbor concerns about privacy and security online and getting insurance to cover it is a challenge — but it’s gaining support among patients and providers.

Here are four startups leading the way:TalkSession

Launched last month, TalkSession’s goal isn’t just to provide online therapy; it has big plans to bust the stigmas surrounding it. “There are actually two stigmas — first the stigma against mental illness and then the stigma within the community against technology,” said founder and CEO Melissa Thompson.

Through regular livestreamed online conversations with top experts in the field, policymakers and other medical and mental health leaders, the startup plans to start by tackling sensitive issues in mental health. And it intends to launch a digital magazine to give leading mental health providers a place to share best practices and build an online presence.

Once it has established a strong network of providers, Thompson said, TalkSession plans to launch an OpenTable-like service to help patients find and book online therapy appointments. Already, the site has recruited 100 therapists and patients can complete a quiz that will help match them with their ideal therapist, but receiving the online therapy is still a little ways off.Talktala

People readily tell friends (and even strangers) about relationship troubles or problems at work, but once you start dropping clinical terms, they’re often likely to clam up, said Talktala founder Oren Frank. That’s why his site is trying to build online therapy options that meet people where they are, in the language in which they want to speak.

TalktalaInstead of offering services tagged with terms from the DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), Talktala invites users to join online chats and forums with friendlier titles like “Relationships are complicated – some advice” and “How to communicate better with your partner?”

In the forums, patients can speak freely and anonymously with others experiencing similar challenges, but a therapist hosts the discussion. During the chat, he can guide conversation in productive directions and if he observes anything significant, he can follow-up with patients individually.

Patients can view any number of online forums and ask a limited number of questions for free, but if they want additional support — from asking unlimited online questions to participating in private and group chats or privately texting with therapists — they can pay up to $30 a month in subscription fees.

Frank said the site isn’t trying to be a solution for people with serious mental health issues and it doesn’t provide services that are reimbursable by insurance. But the service appears to be attracting positive attention — he said it currently has 250 vetted therapists on the site and recently partnered with the Huffington Post’s GPS for the Soul initiative.iCouch

iCouchiCouch launched as a service for U.S. patients and therapists but in the three years since its launch, co-founder and CEO Brian Dear said it’s actually attracted a strong international following. Not only has it recruited 165 therapists worldwide (from countries including the U.K., China and Australia), 30 to 40 percent of its clients are based outside the U.S.

Through the site, people can search for therapists according to specialty and gender, scan each therapist’s bio and price and then book online appointments. Via computer or iPhone, they can they videoconference with vetted therapists through the site’s HIPAA-compliant system.

The site helps people who want to receive therapy sessions in the privacy of their own homes but, Dear said, it can also be an advantage for people who live in areas where the culture may not be receptive to their particular issue. For example, the service has several clients from the Middle East who speak with their therapists about gender identity issues or homosexuality — topics that may be taboo in their cultures, he said.

“It breaks down the geographic barriers — it allows people to go into another culture that may be more accommodating to their concerns,” he said. It also enables expats to receive care that might be more difficult to receive in their new home countries, Dear added.Get all the news you need about Tech with the Gigaom newsletter

(While most therapists are only licensed to practice in a given state, Dear said that it’s not illegal for therapists to conduct inter-state or international sessions.)Breakthrough

One of the earliest startups to bring mental health services online, Breakthrough is only available to residents of California for now, but it plans to expand to Texas and other states soon. Through its site, patients can connect with a network of certified mental health professionals and conduct appointments via chat, email, phone or a custom HIPAA-compliant video system.

But while other services may not prioritize working with the insurance system, Breakthrough — which is backed by angel investors such as former Square COO Keith Rabois, PayPal director and former eHealth exec Avery Kadison, Charles River Ventures and others — aims to make online mental health services more mainstream by working with health insurers. Magellan, one of California’s largest health insurers, for example, last year agreed to extend coverage to Breakthrough.

In addition to showing real-time available appointment slots for therapists (ZocDoc-style), the company shows which doctors are online now and plans to enable on-demand, off-hour services.

According to SK&A’s continuing study on physician office adoption of electronic health records software, usage stabilizes from a year ago. EHR data offers message targeting in a more granular way to the specific physician. Understand adoption rates by practice speciality, size, ownership, geography and other variables.

Customer Testimonial

“Love the report, have followed it for the last two years, and cite it often when presenting to pharma audiences - always citing SK&A as well. Think of me as an ambassador for SK&A data.” - Bill Cooney,President and CEO, MedPoint Communications, Inc.

This post provides general information about HIPAA compliance for software and hardware development. Although Eureka Software has experience in this field, please consult your legal/compliance team for specific information on how to meet HIPAA compliance requirements.

Google Fit, Apple Health Kit, and even the Affordable Care Act have companies scrambling to build healthcare-focused mobile apps and/or upgrade existing medical devices. However, the process of bringing a new product to market in the healthcare industry brings about a whole other set of challenges. Not only do you have to worry about a product’s design and functionality, but now there’s the issue of HIPAA compliance and whether your product meets the criteria for FDA regulation. If you’re interested in building a healthcare-focused mobile app or medical device, don’t let these things deter you from doing so. Instead, let’s go over a few things you’ll need to be aware of before you jump in with both feet.What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act, also known as HIPAA, was first signed into law in 1996. HIPAA was written with the intent to protect individuals from having their healthcare data used or disclosed to people or agencies that have no reason to see it. It has two basic goals:

1.) Standardize the electronic exchange of data between health care organizations, providers, and clearinghouses.2.) Protect the security and confidentiality of protective health information.

There are four rules of HIPPA, but today we’ll focus on the HIPAA Security Rule.What is PHI?

When building a healthcare app or medical device with the intent to collect, store, and share PHI with doctors and hospitals, it is absolutely mandatory make sure you’re HIPAA-compliant (or else you’ll face some hefty fines). Additionally, if you’re planning on storing data in the cloud, you must take appropriate measures to ensure you’re properly securing the data and working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service, too.

Here are some steps you’ll need to take:Determine if your mobile app or medical device must be HIPAA-compliant.

Are you collecting, sharing, or storing personally identifiable health data with anyone who provides treatment, payment and operations in healthcare (aka a covered entity)? If yes, then you must be HIPAA-compliant.Determine if your mobile app or medical device must FDA-regulated.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates medical devices to ensure their safety and effectiveness. If you plan to market your product as a medical device, then it may be subject to the provisions of the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) Act. Find out if your product meets the definition of a medical device as defined by section 201(h) (or a radiation-emitting product as defined in Section 531) on the FDA website. (Visit Is This Product a Medical Device? for more information.) You can also contact the FDA directly if you are unsure whether your mobile app is considered a “Mobile Medical App” and will need to be FDA-regulated. (See Mobile Medical Applications.)Work with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider.

Storing data in the cloud is appealing to the healthcare industry because of the amount of data that needs to be stored and easily accessible yet remain secure. The cloud allows individuals and businesses to store large amounts of information in massive data centers around the globe, rather than on internal servers and software. That data can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Depending on the amount of data (which in healthcare can be A LOT), it can be more cost-effective to store data in the cloud when you account for the costs of hardware, maintenance, staff, and energy when storing locally.

That being said, you need to make sure you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider, like Amazon Web Services or Google Apps, though there are several others you can consider.Get a signed Business Associate Agreement.

Just because you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider doesn’t mean you’re covered. Any vendor or subcontractor who has access to PHI is considered a Business Associate, and therefore must sign a Business Associate Agreement. That includes your cloud storage service provider.Secure sensitive data.

Developers should take appropriate safeguards to ensure that PHI is secure and cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals. People lose their smartphones and iPads or don’t enable passcodes at all, so it’s even more important to make sure the app or medical device is HIPAA-compliant. Things like data encryption, unique user authentication, strong passwords, and mobile wipe options are just a few requirements. See InformationWeek’s article about developers and HIPAA compliance for additional information.

Finally, there is no official certification process to ensure that you’re in compliance with HIPAA’s Security Rule. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website states:

“The purpose of the Security Rule is to adopt national standards for safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (e-PHI) that is collected, maintained, used or transmitted by a covered entity. Compliance is different for each organization and no single strategy will serve all covered entities.” (HHS.gov)

That means that it is up to the organization to implement its own strategy and follow the requirements, or else face those hefty fines.

So that’s an overview of HIPAA compliance. Have you gone through this process? What obstacles did you face? Are you interested in building a mobile app or medical device but concerned about the regulations? Leave a comment below, or send us an email with your questions.

This post provides general information about HIPAA compliance for software and hardware development. Although Eureka Software has experience in this field, please consult your legal/compliance team for specific information on how to meet HIPAA compliance requirements.

Google Fit, Apple Health Kit, and even the Affordable Care Act have companies scrambling to build healthcare-focused mobile apps and/or upgrade existing medical devices. However, the process of bringing a new product to market in the healthcare industry brings about a whole other set of challenges. Not only do you have to worry about a product’s design and functionality, but now there’s the issue of HIPAA compliance and whether your product meets the criteria for FDA regulation. If you’re interested in building a healthcare-focused mobile app or medical device, don’t let these things deter you from doing so. Instead, let’s go over a few things you’ll need to be aware of before you jump in with both feet.

What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act, also known as HIPAA, was first signed into law in 1996. HIPAA was written with the intent to protect individuals from having their healthcare data used or disclosed to people or agencies that have no reason to see it. It has two basic goals:

When building a healthcare app or medical device with the intent to collect, store, and share PHI with doctors and hospitals, it is absolutely mandatory make sure you’re HIPAA-compliant (or else you’ll face some hefty fines). Additionally, if you’re planning on storing data in the cloud, you must take appropriate measures to ensure you’re properly securing the data and working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service, too.

Here are some steps you’ll need to take:

Determine if your mobile app or medical device must be HIPAA-compliant.

Are you collecting, sharing, or storing personally identifiable health data with anyone who provides treatment, payment and operations in healthcare (aka a covered entity)? If yes, then you must be HIPAA-compliant.

Determine if your mobile app or medical device must FDA-regulated.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates medical devices to ensure their safety and effectiveness. If you plan to market your product as a medical device, then it may be subject to the provisions of the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) Act. Find out if your product meets the definition of a medical device as defined by section 201(h) (or a radiation-emitting product as defined in Section 531) on the FDA website. (Visit Is This Product a Medical Device? for more information.) You can also contact the FDA directly if you are unsure whether your mobile app is considered a “Mobile Medical App” and will need to be FDA-regulated. (See Mobile Medical Applications.)

Work with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider.

Storing data in the cloud is appealing to the healthcare industry because of the amount of data that needs to be stored and easily accessible yet remain secure. The cloud allows individuals and businesses to store large amounts of information in massive data centers around the globe, rather than on internal servers and software. That data can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Depending on the amount of data (which in healthcare can be A LOT), it can be more cost-effective to store data in the cloud when you account for the costs of hardware, maintenance, staff, and energy when storing locally.

That being said, you need to make sure you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider, like Amazon Web Services or Google Apps, though there are several others you can consider.

Get a signed Business Associate Agreement.

Just because you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider doesn’t mean you’re covered. Any vendor or subcontractor who has access to PHI is considered a Business Associate, and therefore must sign a Business Associate Agreement. That includes your cloud storage service provider.

Secure sensitive data.

Developers should take appropriate safeguards to ensure that PHI is secure and cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals. People lose their smartphones and iPads or don’t enable passcodes at all, so it’s even more important to make sure the app or medical device is HIPAA-compliant. Things like data encryption, unique user authentication, strong passwords, and mobile wipe options are just a few requirements. See InformationWeek’s article about developers and HIPAA compliance for additional information.

Finally, there is no official certification process to ensure that you’re in compliance with HIPAA’s Security Rule. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website states:

“The purpose of the Security Rule is to adopt national standards for safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (e-PHI) that is collected, maintained, used or transmitted by a covered entity. Compliance is different for each organization and no single strategy will serve all covered entities.” (HHS.gov)

That means that it is up to the organization to implement its own strategy and follow the requirements, or else face those hefty fines.

So that’s an overview of HIPAA compliance. Have you gone through this process? What obstacles did you face? Are you interested in building a mobile app or medical device but concerned about the regulations? Leave a comment below, or send us an email with your questions.

This post provides general information about HIPAA compliance for software and hardware development. Although Eureka Software has experience in this field, please consult your legal/compliance team for specific information on how to meet HIPAA compliance requirements.

Google Fit, Apple Health Kit, and even the Affordable Care Act have companies scrambling to build healthcare-focused mobile apps and/or upgrade existing medical devices. However, the process of bringing a new product to market in the healthcare industry brings about a whole other set of challenges. Not only do you have to worry about a product’s design and functionality, but now there’s the issue of HIPAA compliance and whether your product meets the criteria for FDA regulation. If you’re interested in building a healthcare-focused mobile app or medical device, don’t let these things deter you from doing so. Instead, let’s go over a few things you’ll need to be aware of before you jump in with both feet.

What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act, also known as HIPAA, was first signed into law in 1996. HIPAA was written with the intent to protect individuals from having their healthcare data used or disclosed to people or agencies that have no reason to see it. It has two basic goals:

When building a healthcare app or medical device with the intent to collect, store, and share PHI with doctors and hospitals, it is absolutely mandatory make sure you’re HIPAA-compliant (or else you’ll face some hefty fines). Additionally, if you’re planning on storing data in the cloud, you must take appropriate measures to ensure you’re properly securing the data and working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service, too.

Here are some steps you’ll need to take:

Determine if your mobile app or medical device must be HIPAA-compliant.

Are you collecting, sharing, or storing personally identifiable health data with anyone who provides treatment, payment and operations in healthcare (aka a covered entity)? If yes, then you must be HIPAA-compliant.

Determine if your mobile app or medical device must FDA-regulated.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates medical devices to ensure their safety and effectiveness. If you plan to market your product as a medical device, then it may be subject to the provisions of the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) Act. Find out if your product meets the definition of a medical device as defined by section 201(h) (or a radiation-emitting product as defined in Section 531) on the FDA website. (Visit Is This Product a Medical Device? for more information.) You can also contact the FDA directly if you are unsure whether your mobile app is considered a “Mobile Medical App” and will need to be FDA-regulated. (See Mobile Medical Applications.)

Work with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider.

Storing data in the cloud is appealing to the healthcare industry because of the amount of data that needs to be stored and easily accessible yet remain secure. The cloud allows individuals and businesses to store large amounts of information in massive data centers around the globe, rather than on internal servers and software. That data can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Depending on the amount of data (which in healthcare can be A LOT), it can be more cost-effective to store data in the cloud when you account for the costs of hardware, maintenance, staff, and energy when storing locally.

That being said, you need to make sure you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider, like Amazon Web Services or Google Apps, though there are several others you can consider.

Get a signed Business Associate Agreement.

Just because you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider doesn’t mean you’re covered. Any vendor or subcontractor who has access to PHI is considered a Business Associate, and therefore must sign a Business Associate Agreement. That includes your cloud storage service provider.

Secure sensitive data.

Developers should take appropriate safeguards to ensure that PHI is secure and cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals. People lose their smartphones and iPads or don’t enable passcodes at all, so it’s even more important to make sure the app or medical device is HIPAA-compliant. Things like data encryption, unique user authentication, strong passwords, and mobile wipe options are just a few requirements. See InformationWeek’s article about developers and HIPAA compliance for additional information.

Finally, there is no official certification process to ensure that you’re in compliance with HIPAA’s Security Rule. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website states:

“The purpose of the Security Rule is to adopt national standards for safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (e-PHI) that is collected, maintained, used or transmitted by a covered entity. Compliance is different for each organization and no single strategy will serve all covered entities.” (HHS.gov)

That means that it is up to the organization to implement its own strategy and follow the requirements, or else face those hefty fines.

So that’s an overview of HIPAA compliance. Have you gone through this process? What obstacles did you face? Are you interested in building a mobile app or medical device but concerned about the regulations? Leave a comment below, or send us an email with your questions.

This post provides general information about HIPAA compliance for software and hardware development. Although Eureka Software has experience in this field, please consult your legal/compliance team for specific information on how to meet HIPAA compliance requirements.

Google Fit, Apple Health Kit, and even the Affordable Care Act have companies scrambling to build healthcare-focused mobile apps and/or upgrade existing medical devices. However, the process of bringing a new product to market in the healthcare industry brings about a whole other set of challenges. Not only do you have to worry about a product’s design and functionality, but now there’s the issue of HIPAA compliance and whether your product meets the criteria for FDA regulation. If you’re interested in building a healthcare-focused mobile app or medical device, don’t let these things deter you from doing so. Instead, let’s go over a few things you’ll need to be aware of before you jump in with both feet.

What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act, also known as HIPAA, was first signed into law in 1996. HIPAA was written with the intent to protect individuals from having their healthcare data used or disclosed to people or agencies that have no reason to see it. It has two basic goals:

When building a healthcare app or medical device with the intent to collect, store, and share PHI with doctors and hospitals, it is absolutely mandatory make sure you’re HIPAA-compliant (or else you’ll face some hefty fines). Additionally, if you’re planning on storing data in the cloud, you must take appropriate measures to ensure you’re properly securing the data and working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service, too.

Here are some steps you’ll need to take:

Determine if your mobile app or medical device must be HIPAA-compliant.

Are you collecting, sharing, or storing personally identifiable health data with anyone who provides treatment, payment and operations in healthcare (aka a covered entity)? If yes, then you must be HIPAA-compliant.

Determine if your mobile app or medical device must FDA-regulated.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates medical devices to ensure their safety and effectiveness. If you plan to market your product as a medical device, then it may be subject to the provisions of the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) Act. Find out if your product meets the definition of a medical device as defined by section 201(h) (or a radiation-emitting product as defined in Section 531) on the FDA website. (Visit Is This Product a Medical Device? for more information.) You can also contact the FDA directly if you are unsure whether your mobile app is considered a “Mobile Medical App” and will need to be FDA-regulated. (See Mobile Medical Applications.)

Work with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider.

Storing data in the cloud is appealing to the healthcare industry because of the amount of data that needs to be stored and easily accessible yet remain secure. The cloud allows individuals and businesses to store large amounts of information in massive data centers around the globe, rather than on internal servers and software. That data can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Depending on the amount of data (which in healthcare can be A LOT), it can be more cost-effective to store data in the cloud when you account for the costs of hardware, maintenance, staff, and energy when storing locally.

That being said, you need to make sure you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider, like Amazon Web Services or Google Apps, though there are several others you can consider.

Get a signed Business Associate Agreement.

Just because you’re working with a HIPAA-compliant cloud storage service provider doesn’t mean you’re covered. Any vendor or subcontractor who has access to PHI is considered a Business Associate, and therefore must sign a Business Associate Agreement. That includes your cloud storage service provider.

Secure sensitive data.

Developers should take appropriate safeguards to ensure that PHI is secure and cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals. People lose their smartphones and iPads or don’t enable passcodes at all, so it’s even more important to make sure the app or medical device is HIPAA-compliant. Things like data encryption, unique user authentication, strong passwords, and mobile wipe options are just a few requirements. See InformationWeek’s article about developers and HIPAA compliance for additional information.

Finally, there is no official certification process to ensure that you’re in compliance with HIPAA’s Security Rule. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website states:

“The purpose of the Security Rule is to adopt national standards for safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (e-PHI) that is collected, maintained, used or transmitted by a covered entity. Compliance is different for each organization and no single strategy will serve all covered entities.” (HHS.gov)

That means that it is up to the organization to implement its own strategy and follow the requirements, or else face those hefty fines.

So that’s an overview of HIPAA compliance. Have you gone through this process? What obstacles did you face? Are you interested in building a mobile app or medical device but concerned about the regulations? Leave a comment below, or send us an email with your questions.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KGO) --A new technology that could revolutionize breast cancer screening is about to begin clinical trials in the Bay Area. Rather than a mammogram or ultrasound, this system can be used at home, with potentially life-saving information transmitted through a smartphone.

For Dian Gaxiola, a routine breast screening at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View turned out to be a lifesaver. Doctors caught her cancer at a very early stage and saved her breast.

"I was very lucky, I think because of the early detection," cancer survivor Dian Gaxiola said.

El Camino Hospital Radiologist Dr. Sila Yitta says routine mammograms and self-screening are the best defense, although many women don't always take advantage.

"In my experience it is hit or miss, I think women, some women are consistent in doing breast exams at home, some women don't do them at all, and I often times get questions from women, asking simply, 'How do I do an exam,'" Yitta said.

However soon, an experimental technology could help thousands of women and doctors screen for breast cancer in a new way. It's called the iTBra.

"So you'll be putting that on, so it'll now be centered over you,"

Cyrcadia Health CEO Rob Royea says the patches can be worn inside any normal bra. He said, "It's a wearable device with a number of sensors that check what happens with your circadian patterns of heat change on your breast over time."

Roye says the heat changes correlate to the accelerated cell activity associated with breast tumors. The results are then processed using sophisticated algorithms and transmitted to a smartphone.

"You wear the device for a few hours, and that information is automatically communicated to your physician," Rob Royea, Cyrcadia Health

Because the system is heat based, developers believe it may also offer advantages for some women with denser breast tissue, which can be more difficult to image using traditional mammography.

"We believe we're tissue agnostic. Meaning that for all tissues we react about the same," Rob Royea from Cyrcadia Health said.

The clinical trial being conducted at El Camino Hospital will study the results on women wearing the device for different lengths of time. The goal is to produce accurate readings in roughly two hours, ultimately making the system more convenient for women to use.

Despite the advancements in medical technologies, healthcare continues to pose all levels of challenges of complexity, affordability and accessibility worldwide. In contrast to healthcare access, mobile access is becoming almost omnipresent across the whole world. This provides a strong foundation for mHealth — the use of mobile communication for health services or achieving health outcomes. The traditional IT giants Apple and Google joined the race of the fast-growing mHealth with their own solutions.

Apple Health Vs Google Fit: What are they? Apple released its iOS 8 with a mHealth app, called Health, to track, record and analyse your Health Data across a variety of metrics (fitness data, nutrition data, sleep patterns, cholesterol levels, heart rate etc.) with your iPhone. Users can customize their own health dashboard and create a digital “emergency medical card” with crucial health information for emergency health service providers.

To compete with Apple, Google also published its Fit app, which also centralizes health data through collecting information from third party apps via your Android device. Google Fit app uses smartphone’s built-in sensors and can connect to compatible third-party gadgets and services. Google Fit app also built into Android smart watches such as Samsung Gear Live and Motorola Moto 360 to track your activates on-the-go.

What apps will support them? In order to achieve talent worldwide, both Apple and Google open their health platform to developers. HealthKit is Apple’s tool for iOS developers to access and share your health data between apps. Some of the best health and fitness apps such as Jawbone’s UP app, Strava, MapMyRUN, WebMD etc. have already integrated with HealthKit. It’s important to note that Apple also enhance the partnerships with traditional health service providers such as NHS in the UK and hospitals in the USA to enter into health industry.

Google introduce its Fit SDK to its Android developer back in June 2014. Google Fit is an open platform allows third-party developers and devices manufacturers to connect and share health and fitness data. Apps and devices support Google Fit includes Withings, Runkeeper, Strava and Noom Coach etc. Google Fit attracts some large industry partners such as Adidas, HTC, Intel and Motorola.

Future and Concerns

Both Apple and Google describe their new Health/Fit platform as “the beginning of a health revolution”. With the ability to connect to wearable devices, HealthKit and Google can capture data such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation and hydration levels etc., which are normally associated with health professionals. For example, Google is currently working on a smart contact lens that can measure real-time glucose levels.

With all the information collecting from the apps and gadgets about our state of health, it is quiet possible in the near future our phone will know we are unwell before ourselves. This may completely change the old patient pathway where we feel sick, see a doctor, get tests and receive the results. The new patient pathway will be completely different: since our phones constantly track our medical results, they can help us to book medical appointments automatically. As health information grows more digitized, it could lead to time saving and efficiencies of the whole health system and help the society move towards the more cost-effective “preventative medicine”.

However, the promising Health/Fit technology also draws concerns from healthcare experts and public regarding data security, privacy and regulation. If all the personal medical records stored on smartphones and cloud, who owns the data has to be considered. Both Apple and Google haven’t clearly demonstrated how they are going to protect confidential health data from commercial abuse. There is also a risk that people will misinterpret their own health data and even develop unhealthy anxiety over less than perfect dataset.

Tech giants as Apple and Google may visualize the future of healthcare in the form of mHelath, but all the significant barriers need to be overcome and strategic collaborations and partnerships with all stakeholders, including healthcare providers and government, need to be built to deliver an effective, accessible mHealth system.

During the holiday season, ideally filled with family, food, and festivities, the topic of depression is often sidelined; even more of a taboo subject than usual. But research suggests it is one of our most persistent blights, ranked ninth in the world behind the major killers, such as heart disease, stroke, and HIV, according to Nature.

Now researchers from multiple disciplines, in both the public and private sectors, are working on various algorithms and approaches to measure a range of mental health trends via large volumes of online activity. Issues such as depression and seasonal anxiety disorder aren’t the first health trends to be investigated in this way – think Google Flu Trends, for instance – but they represent an entry point for researchers, one that most recently has been hailed by a team at Johns Hopkins reporting on techniques that could play a key role in measuring mental health metrics.

The use of electronic health records has come a long way since 2010, but EHRs cannot stand alone, warns a PwC report. The next challenge is integrating mobile health devices into the EHR and the provider–patient relationship.

The consulting company interviewed 1,000 physicians and physician extenders—nurse practitioners, physician assistants—to discover how they use digital technology and some of the concerns they have about incorporating it into clinical practice (http://tinyurl.com/digital-study).

The number of providers using smartphones and tablets is increasing. For example, in 2010, about 1 in 8 (12%) used mobile devices to check medical records. In 2014, the survey found that almost half (45%) do.

Five Ways Analytics in Digital Health Tools Will Change HealthcarePosted on February 8, 2015 by davidleescher 6 Votes

There are many reasons cited why digital technologies hope to improve of patient care as well as the state of healthcare itself. They include improving efficiencies, patient safety, and cost. However, as has been seen with the most ubiquitous face of digital health technology, the EHR, these promises remain unfulfilled. One significant barrier to the utility of digital technology has been the heretofore unlinked status of ‘sterile’ data with analytical tools which can bring it into the world of clinical relevance to both the provider and patient. Analytics have been utilized in other sectors of society including retail, social and finance for decades. They drive efficiencies and outcomes at Amazon, IBM, telecoms, FedEx, financial institutions, and sports. Yet the millions of bits of discrete data amassed every minute in healthcare are warehoused in a contextual vacuum. To add insult to injury, even when utilized in hospital patient satisfaction surveys, bundled payment programs, and physician performance measures, the results are transmitted to healthcare enterprises and providers (who are eager to affect improvement based on these metrics) only after months (and up to a year) later. Analytics can be seen as mission control of digital technologies, putting all the pieces together in order to assure ultimate success of the vision. The filtered data needs to be delivered in real-time and incorporated into operational and clinical workflows without having to be mined. Barriers to the adoption of analytics were identified in a joint study by IBM and MIT. The biggest ones were: inability to get the data, the culture does not encourage the sharing of data, lack of understanding of the benefits of analytics, competing administrative priorities, and lack of executive sponsorship. It should be noted that this study was performed in 2010. Nevertheless it is the opinion of this author that these same barriers remain obstacles today. I will discuss some reasons why analytics will ultimately change healthcare.

Analytics will deliver value to electronic health records (EHRs). EHRs were developed to help improve and integrate the flow of clinical information. However, they were designed as billing tools which also met regulatory specifications. They do not follow clinical workflows. The American Medical Association has called for design overhaul of EHRs to improve usability. Clinical decision support is rudimentary and can vary widely in its breadth and depth of use. The discussion of the utility of analytics with EHRs is not new. I suggested what this might look like in healthcare in a piece I wrote in 2011, with pilot studies using predictive analyticshave been done.Analytics can improve clinical workflow. It is intuitive that analytics can improve workflow. Actually determining this by way of metrics has been a challenge. One interesting study from the University of Michigan “focused on measuring clinicians’ ‘time expenditures’ among different clinical activities rather than inspecting clinical ‘workflow’ from the true ‘flow of the work’ perspective.”Proscribed therapies and digital health tools. Analytics will recommend, based on available data in the EHR (diagnoses, medications, vital signs, results of tests) treatment and discharge plans as well as digital tools for patients (patient education on diagnoses, medication, and follow-up and care instructions. Case managers (as well as the healthcare provider) who have backgrounds in informatics will review these recommendations. This will close the loop as a human element check.Population health management. ‘Population health’ is currently the buzz phrase for healthcare enterprises. It encompasses preventive health, outreach programs including telehealth, and the use of data to drive health outcomes. Analytics will facilitate this by analyzing real-time data gathered by EHRs, social media, genomics, and mobile health technologies including apps and remote patient monitoring. Crowdsourcing data, whether it is derived from a worldwide or single institutional database is very powerful.Analytics will transform Big Data into Actionable Data.Preventing hospital readmissions is becoming a significant focus of healthcare enterprises because of the financial penalties tied to them via CMS. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is becoming a significant tool in preventing these readmissions by providing continuity of patient-derived data with the hospital, recognizing actionable trending data before it results in a trip to the ER and a subsequent admission to the hospital. One of the unmet challenges of most RPM systems is to incorporate analytics with the technology, offering suggested changes in lifestyle, care, or other instructions to patients and/or caregivers, or changes in the therapeutic plan to the provider. This is a far cry from the provider receiving a deluge of useless data for analysis. This type of analytics can also incorporate clinical decision support based on evidence-based medicine.Use in clinical trials, post marketing of drugs and devices. Analytics can be extremely helpful in the recruitment and retention of patients in clinical trials. There are a few mobile health technology companies in this space. One not mentioned (by way of disclosure to which I am an advisor) is Parallel6 which utilizes patented technology to keep patients and investigators connected. Post-marketing surveillance of medical devices, new pharmaceuticals, and drugs which transition from prescription to over the counter is critical in discovering adverse reactions and other events not captured during controlled (relatively short-term) approval trials or regulated prescribing.Analytics will be the key to personalized medicine. Only via analytics can we combine the value of population health data and clinical and digital data from an individual patient in an expedited and accurate fashion. Should all patients with the same cancer receive the same treatment regimen? Analytics can potentially readily address variances of diagnosis and/or treatment of a disease based on geography, race, and genomics.Analytics will decrease gaps/bias in care (geographic, socioeconomic). It is well-known that geographic variations exist in healthcare utilization and costs. Analytics incorporated into EHRs can utilize best practices seen vis-a-vis pooled data such as this to ‘level the playing field’ with respect to both quality and cost of treatment.Analytics will decrease the cost of care. The use of analytics is readily seen with its incorporation in apps which provide healthcare cost transparency. Analytics can also help patients interested in medical tourism choose a destination. There are apps which allow patients to compare charges for a given procedure.I do not pretend to deliver the message that analytics is the Wizard of Oz of healthcare, nor that the successful revamping of our broken system lies solely in IT. As described above, barriers to the use of analytics are not technical but cultural. Organizations like Kaiser-Permanente and Geisinger Health System already realize the value proposition of employing high-grade real-time analytics to drive better outcomes and lower costs. It is important for hospitals to realize that remaining in just survival mode is not an option and that a vision of utilizing cost-effective resources such as analytics can be the best investment for success.
Via ChemaCepeda

Many large hospitals in the U.S. are evaluating or developing pilot projects around Apple’s HealthKit platform. Stanford Health Care is among the first to actually offer a working app that exchanges data between the Epic patient record system and Apple’s platform.

SHC quietly announced Tuesday the release of its new iOS 8 MyHealth mobile app for patients (no Android app yet).

The app was developed in-house by Stanford Health Care (SHC) engineers, and connects directly with Epic’s electronic health records system, and with Apple’s HealthKit to collect data from consumer health data monitoring devices like Fitbit wearables, for example.

The app supports Stanford Health Care’s new ClickWell Care, a telemedicine service that connects patients with Stanford doctors online. ClickWell also provides patients with a customized wellness coaching program from a certified personal trainer, who monitors data from the patient’s home health devices.

“We provide care for some of the most technologically sophisticated patients in the country, whose lives revolve around innovation,” said Stanford Health Care CEO Amir Dan Rubin in a statement. “After carefully evaluating all of the available mobile technologies, we recognized that to meet the needs and expectations of our patients we had to develop our own solution that worked seamlessly with our existing electronic health record system,” Rubin added.

The MyHealth app also creates offers a secure messaging platform where patients can communicate directly with caregivers. Using HealthKit, the MyHealth app syncs automatically with whatever consumer wellness devices or clinical home care devices the patient might use. The data received from the devices is automatically added to the patient’s chart in Epic for their physician to review remotely.

“By integrating with companies like Withings, our physicians have access to meaningful patient data right in Epic, without having to ask the patient to come in for an appointment,” said SHC CIO Pravene Nath, MD, in a statement. “We believe this is the future of how care will be delivered for many types of chronic conditions.”

Stanford Health Care consists of a large university hospital, primary care offices throughout the Bay Area, and outpatient clinics in Redwood City and Palo Alto, California.

Branding Home Clinicians Patients Partner Directory Mobile phone in asthma management and control through “myAirCoach” project February 16, 2015 Asthma, Featured, Patients European researchers have been awarded over €4.5 million to create a user-friendly tool for asthmatic patients to monitor and self-control their disease. The myAirCoach project will run for three years and involves numerous research centers in EU. The name of the project, myAirCoach, stands for analysis, modeling and sensing of both physiological and environmental factors for asthma’s customized and predictive self-management, and seeks to merge mobile health potential to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare with the daily needs of chronic asthma patients. European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations (EFA) is one of the main partners in the project. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/myaircoach-asthma-management-and-control-mobile-phone Need for customized asthma treatment “Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in Europe, but if affects each patient differently”, says Giuseppe De Carlo of the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations (EFA), one of the partners of the project. “The place where patients live and work, the weather and season, age and even emotions (for example work-related stress) often impact the disease symptoms.” Mr. de Carlo added that asthma changes constantly – along with the patient’ life – making it compulsory to adjust treatments accordingly. This makes every case unique, even for a single patient and on a day to day basis, requiring a treatment plan tailored to the patient’s needs, he concluded A personalized asthma monitoring system According to the EFA, “mobile devices can today support medical and public health practice if the right apps are in place. Thus, mHealth can significantly contribute to patients’ empowerment, enabling them to manage their health more actively and to live more independently. It can also support healthcare professionals in treating patients more efficiently as mobile apps can track adherence to treatment and encourage healthy lifestyles. Funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation framework program, myAirCoach aims to develop a patient-friendly, sensor-based tool to collect clinical, environmental and behavioral data relating to the patient. These measurements will serve as the basis for a digital model that will enable the medical and research community to make accurate predictions of the patient’s disease progression. “The patient will receive immediate feedback on how to manage his/her condition as well, especially when facing a higher risk of asthma aggravation, enabling patients to manage their health to avoid asthma symptoms”, says the EFA. The myAirCoach project will run for three consecutive years and involves research centers, academic organisations, patient organisations and private medical enterprises from across Europe, to bring various perspectives on asthma self-management to the project. More on the issue in: myAirCoach website

posted on Feb. 2, 2015, at 10:05 am Google is moving into digital health perhaps more than you think.

In July 2014, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin sat down for a rare interview with Vinod Khosla where they discussed, among other things, Google’s involvement in health. When Khosla asked if Google would ever become a healthcare company, both founders were somewhat critical of the current healthcare system’s regulatory hurdles and because of this didn’t envisage becoming a big player in the space. The full interview is below.

Perhaps this was downplayed somewhat since Google is investing both money and resources in digital health in a number of ways and even Medtronic believes Google will be its main competitor in eight years’ time.

Here are 8 examples of how Google is moving into Digital Health 1. Google will store your genome in the cloud for $25 a yearGoogle Genomics

Google has been in the online storage business for sometime now but never like this. Google wants to help university laboratories and hospitals store their clients’ genomes in the cloud which they are calling Google Genomics. For $25 a year, Google will keep a copy of any genome in the cloud to allow researchers to access millions of genomes and run batch analyses efficiently. Via MIT Technology Review 2. Google is developing a cancer and heart attack-detecting pill

Google nanoparticle pill

Google is working on a nanoparticle pill that could identify cancers, heart attacks and other diseases before they become a problem. Magnetic nanoparticles, less than one-thousandth the width of a red blood cell, will circulate through the blood to detect and report signs of cancer or an imminent heart attack.

Andrew Conrad, head of the Life Sciences team at the Google X research lab said at a Wall Street Journal event in October last year,“Every test you ever go to the doctor for will be done through this system. This is our dream.” Via Wall Street Journal 3. Google is making fake skin to test its nanoparticles

In order to detect the light coming from the nanoparticle pills, Google had to understand exactly how light passes through skin so they started making synthetic skin. The synthetic skin had to be made the same as real skin with the same autofluorescence and biochemical components. Via The Atlantic 4. Google is trying to unlock the secrets of agingGoogle Calico

In 2013, Google founded Calico (California Life Company) which is focussed on aging and age-related diseases. Google co-founder, Larry Page, described Calico as a company focussed on “health, wellbeing and longevity” and in Sept last year Calico announced a $1.5bn partnership with pharmaceutical company, AbbVie to accelerate the discovery, development and commercialization of age-related conditions such as neurodegeneration and cancer. Via FT 5. Google Glass is being used in numerous ways in healthcareGoogle Glass Surgeon

Despite all the criticism of late and Google’s decision to cancel the public Explorer program, there are still high hopes for how hospitals can use Google Glass in the operating room. A number of hospitals around the world are experimenting with Glass to find innovative ways of adapting the head-mounted computer in a healthcare environment. Via Bionicly 6. Google is developing a smart contact lens for people with diabetesGoogle Contact Lens

Partnering with global pharmaceutical company, Novartis, Google is developing a smart contact lens to help patients manage diabetes. The lens contains a microchip and a hair-thin electronic circuit that measures blood sugar levels directly from the tear fluid on the surface of the eyeball and transmits the data to a mobile device. Via Forbes 7. Google is attempting to simulate the human brainGoogle Neural Network

Google acquired deep learning start-up, DeepMind, in January 2014 for a reported $400m and has since announced the launch of a computer that mimics the short-term memory of the human brain. The result is a computer that learns as it stores memories and can later retrieve them to perform logical tasks beyond those it has been trained to do. This neural network is based around the idea of creating a computer that simulates what happens in the human brain but implementing tweaks and changes to make it even more efficient. Via Forbes 8. Google wants to make medical records open for sharing

Larry Page TED

In an onstage interview with Charlie Rose at TED2014 conference in Vancouver, Google co-founder, Larry Page said, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if everyone’s medical records were available anonymously to research doctors? We’d save 100,000 lives this year. We’re not really thinking about the tremendous good which can come from people sharing information with the right people in the right ways.” Via TED

DrawMD Pediatrics is an easy-to-use app that gives clinicians the ability to use more sophisticated visual aids The post DrawMD Pediatrics is a great app for communicating with kids and their parents appeared first on iMedicalApps.

Imagine you're a 30-year-old who eats healthily, exercises regularly, doesn’t use tobacco products or drink excessive amounts of alcohol, and has an unremarkable family medical history. You visit your regular physician for an annual checkup, and after a quick 15-minute chat with your doctor he schedules you for blood work and says to come back in two or three years unless the blood panel shows a problem or an illness appears. You likely don’t feel well cared for or very informed, do you?

You’re not alone in feeling that way. Any good nutritionist, trainer or counselor knows that preventive health care can't adequately be done in one 15-minute session per year, yet this scenario has been the standard of physician-patient interaction for decades and has caused growing disconnect among doctors and their patients. But technology is narrowing that gap. The idea of “modern medicine” is being revolutionized thanks to unprecedented amounts of data flowing from mobile health care devices (mHealth). Soon the concept of quick annual checkups will become obsolete, and doctors are going to be more frequently involved in their patients’ lives in inventive and intimate ways—resulting in a new era of understanding about disease management and prevention.

One of the biggest changes the health care industry faces is the increase of consumer available tests and data, which means people are becoming familiar with the kinds of things physicians look at during annual visits and more preventative tests can be done from home, says Dr. William Rusnak, a family medicine resident in Philadelphia.

“My hope is that an annual check-up turns into more a quarterly checkup, and that can be a reality if the convenience is available,” Rusnak says. “Obviously people aren't going to take off time from work and schedule an appointment physically see a physician that often, so I see this happening in terms of mHealth.”

More frequent patient-physician interactions for at-risk patients can increase the likelihood of detecting early signs of cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, heart disease, strokes, diabetes and Alzheimer’s, which are among the leading causes of deaths for Americans. The current method of screening for these ailments every few years leaves patients vulnerable to missing red flags and putting them behind the curve on preventative care, Rusnak says. And although home health monitoring is off to a slow start, mHealth tools are increasing in popularity and providing medical teams with new resources to manage and prevent these illnesses—resources which will eventually curb the contraction and mortality growth rates.

Politics, financial costs and shady data security methods means telemedicine and mHealth in their current form won’t entirely replace physical checkups, but digital visits are already transforming the type of health care patients receive — soon seeing your doctor only once every year or three will phase out completely.

Getting useful, consumer-friendly medical devices into the hands of patients and having physicians engaging with patients who use those tools is the first step. But this change is going to be a result of examining the types of data and information coming in from mobile health systems, which are providing way more information than researchers have ever had before and delivering insights to the ways diseases progress and the optimal ways to manage them, says Euan Thomson, the CEO of AliveCor, a mobile echocardiogram manufacturer and heart disease research company.

“The nature of the way that we understand and track diseases is going to change significantly. That's one of the main drivers [of mHealth], because data is going to give us better care and better insights than ever before,” Thomson says. “Not just through the logistics of telemedicine, but through a greater understanding of the disease process itself.”

This data is going to allow for more specialized care, and offer patients improved understanding of their chronic illness and how to manage it. In upcoming years, when patients establish care at a medical practice they're going to be working with entire teams, and depending on their individual needs they will spend more or less time with particular members of the team. For example, a diabetic needs more medical, dietary, and even podiatry care than a healthy teenager who likely requires more emotional counseling, personal development coaching, and fitness guidance. Medicine is going to become much more individualized, and that personalization is going to increase exponentially as more convenient, reliable mHealth devices enter the marketplace.

But the replacement of irregular checkups goes further than wearing personal health care devices and having doctors use the results. The expansion that is going to happen the most because of these new telemedicine technologies is in rural areas where doctors will be able to do consulting from a health care center to a physician's office, monitor chronic diseases, and more slowly for psychiatric and therapeutic sessions, says Dr. Janis Orlowski, the chief health care officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“Telemedicine has really been the promise for the last 10 or 15 years that has really never quite met its greatest potential, and I think that's because it was limited by technology, but those limitations are slowly falling away,” she says.

However, despite the proposed benefits of telemedicine and mobile health care various organizations, like the American Medical Association, urge caution when physicians begin implementing mobile devices into their treatment plan.

The AMA recommends doctors establish a physician-patient relationship prior to any telemedicine interaction taking place, with certain exemptions for specialties like pathology, radiology and urgent care situations where a face-to-face interaction is not fundamental in the standard of care. Physicians need to see their patients face-to-face in order to gather the background information necessary to make educated health care decisions and provide good care. Once that initial relationship is established, the AMA recommends that physicians use any mode of technology they choose so long as the technology allows them to meet the standard of care for whatever service they are providing.

Unlike Rusnak and Thomson, the AMA doesn’t foresee regular physician exams completely disappearing, but they’ll take on a different role than what’s currently practiced. The organization argues annual visits will become a critical summary between the patient and physician, where additional background information about the patient’s health over the course of the year is provided. This gives the patient quantifiable data and goals for the upcoming year.

Around 400 million patients have diabetes worldwide according to estimations. And over the last few years, diabetes management has been improving but due to the new technologies and devices coming to the market very soon, the whole management of diabetes will significantly change in the coming years. Let me show you some examples how.

Digital Contact Lenses

Google has an augmented reality glass called the Google Glass which they just stopped developing, but they also patented a digital contact lens through which we can get more information from the digital world plus it can measure blood glucose levels from tears as an added benefit. Google launched a partnership with the pharmaceutical company Novartis to develop these smart contact lenses that can track diabetes and fix farsightedness as well.

Gamification

There are amazing applications for smartphones that can help you manage diabetes efficiently. MySugr, an Austrian company, released several applications that can add a little bit of gamification to the traditional diabetes management apps. The company also developed the mySugr Junior App designed for kids to learn how to manage diabetes properly. It also enables parents to keep control over the therapy when they are not around the kid. The app looks like a game in which the children get points for every entry and the goal is to score a particular amount of points every single day.

Patient empowerment with big data

Databetes helps patients better manage their diabetes by providing a good way for logging and measuring data, as well as a revolutionary concept to analyze the big data behind one person’s disease. Patients can support each other through social media channels and become coaches for each other. Look at sixuntilme.com for best practice examples.

Bionic pancreas

There is artificial pancreas which means that it’s a closed-loop insulin delivery system. The device can measure blood glucose levels constantly and decide upon the insulin delivery itself. Engineers from Boston University have developed a bionic pancreas system that uses continuous glucose monitoring along with subcutaneous delivery of both rapid-acting insulin and glucagon as directed by a computer algorithm.

Food scanners

TellSpec, a Canadian company is coming up with a food scanner this year which by scanning your food can tell you how many and what kind of ingredients, how many allergens, toxins, how many carbohydrates you actually have in the food you are about to eat.

Pocket-sized gadgets

When you live with diabetes, you get used to carting around with plenty of things such as meters, test strips, lancing devices, and so on therefore a pocket-sized gadget can change this called Dario that also comes with a diabetes management system.

Wireless monitors

The medical company Abbott just released a FreeStyle Libre system which makes it possible to constantly measure blood glucose levels in a wireless way.

Digital tattoos

Here is a digital tattoo that can measure glucose levels by using electric current to attract glucose to the surface of the skin. The proof-of-concept study was just published and it’s time to bring the era of wireless diabetes management to patients.

So there are more and more technologies that can help people manage diabetes properly besides potentially future therapies such as new drugs or islet cell transplantation but it’s really time to manage diabetes in a gamified and comfortable way and I believe that the best gadgets and the best technological solutions are just yet to come.

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